2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific

On Tuesday, 73 players entered the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Event #5 $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and after 10 one-hour levels of play, just 19 of the remained with Jamie Pickering and his stack of 105,900 leading the way. The number of entrants may go up as registration for this event is open until the start of Day 2.

It didn’t take long for the first elimination of the day to occur. In Level 1 (25/50) action exploded on a flop between Edward Hatzakortzian and Sam Higgs that resulted in the former getting his last 10,000 or so in the pot.

Hatzakortzian:
Higgs:

Hatzakortzian held two pair, but he admitted he didn't like the situation as Higgs held a queens with overs and a flush draw.

"Straight away," a resigned Hatzakortzian said after the turn gave Higgs the flush. Hatzakortzian could still win with either a queen of three, but it wasn't in the cards as the blanked on the river. With that, Hatzakortzian became the first player eliminated from the tournament, though he would be far from the last.

Others who hit the rail on Day 1 were 2014 WSOP Player of the Year contender George Danzer; Jeff Lisandro, who had just won his sixth gold bracelet; reigning Aussie Millions champ Ami Barer; 13-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth; 2005 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem; and 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, who was playing in his first WSOP APAC event.

Likewise, 2012 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Merson played his first event upon arriving in Melbourne after some nightmarish travel delays. Merson, who bagged up 63,800, spoke with Senior New Editor Chad Holloway about the delays:

Others who will be returning for Day 2 are Aaron Lim (45,000), Richard Ashby (39,600), Jeff Rossiter (35,200), John Dalessandri (17,400), Billy “The Croc” Argyros (12,300), and Dan Heimiller (5,200).

The remaining 19 players will return to action at 12:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday for Day 2 action, and of course the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action from the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. We'll see you then!

The clock has been stopped with 10 minutes left in Level 10 and five more hands will be played before the remaining players bag and tag their chips. Right now this would concern 19 contenders for the golden bracelet here in Melbourne.

Stay tuned for any last-minute action, a list of chips counts, and a full recap of the Day 1 action.

In a three-bet preflop pot, Brian Rast got his remaining chips all in against Jonathan Duhamel on a flop.

Rast:
Duhamel:

Duhamel was ahead with his top pair, but he improved to a straight on the turn. Rast needed a queen to score the double, but it wasn't in the cards as the blanked on the river.

"Good luck guys," Rast offered before departing with less than 20 minutes left in Day 1.

On a flop of   , Gary Benson got into a raising war with Richard Johnston the almost even stacks went into the middle with Johnston at risk for his last 25,100.

Benson:    
Johnston:    

Neither the turn nor the river saved Benson and he was left with only 900 chips. He doubled up against Daniel Negreanu after being forced all in the very next hand, then folded the next four hands and was all in for 1,300 chips from early position.

Aaron Lim made the call out of the small blind with     and needed to improve against Benson's    . The run out of the      was quite cynical and Benson was denied the back-to-back final tables in Pot Limit Omaha events here at the World Series Of Poker Asia Pacific 2014.

Karim Jomeen raised to 3,000 from under the gun and got called three ways to see the    flop. The action got checked to the initial raiser and Jomeen continued for 4,200, which Daniel Negreanu called. Ismael Bojang made it 9,000 on the button and Jomeen tank-folded whereas the Canadian tossed in the extra chips.

On the turn, Negreanu checked and Bojang bet 16,500. The Canadian counted his stack very carefully and eventually folded  . He was shown     and Negreanu said "I thought you had tens for sure, to which he received an "I had the ten blocker" from Bojang.

Antonio Esfandiari opened with a raise from the hijack only to have Ismael Bojang three-bet to 10,700 from the button. The blinds both folded, and then Esfandiari shoved for 22,300 more. Bojang sort of rolled his eyes before dropping in a call. He seemed as if he expected Esfandiari to turn over aces, but that wasn't the case.

Bojang:
Esfandiari:

Bojang was ahead with kings, but Esfandiari had some connecting cards. Unfortunately for him, the flop was as dry as could be, and the turn actually left him drawing dead. The meaningless was put out on the river for good measure, and then "The Magician" took his leave from the tournament.

Once again Nathan Pan was involved in a pot and he called a bet of 8,000 on the     turn before checking behind on the river. Ashby seemed disappointed as he rolled over     for a full house and scooped the pot. Below are also the up-to-date chip counts of all other players on table 25.

We noticed a mid-sized pot over on table 25 and Nathan Pan committed 4,400 on the     turn only to check the river. In the showdown he revealed     but his opponent had made a full house with     on the last community card.